HONG KONG, July 15, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — An increase of almost 5% in member numbers has resulted in ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) achieving nearly 170,000 members in the past year. At the same time, the global body for professional accountants recorded 436,000 students, of which 384,000 — an increase of over 12,000 on the previous year — were studying for the ACCA Qualification in 2013-14.

ACCA’s rate of growth among members at 4.7% is the highest of any of the international accounting bodies, comprising 10,377 new members and a 98.4% retention rate among existing members.

Fundamental to achieving growth is ACCA’s professional standing. ACCA asked employers for their overall perceptions — with 95% saying that ACCA was a respected brand and 89% saying that ACCA was a world class organisation. ACCA was seen as being the global leader among international accounting bodies by over 50% of those surveyed. The next highest ranked body was mentioned by only 17% of those surveyed.

Learning providers were also asked about their views — with 90% saying ACCA is a world class organisation and 85% agreeing that ACCA is a great career choice for young people.

ACCA Chief Executive Helen Brand OBE said, “The opinions of employers and learning providers are critical to us, since they provide career and learning opportunities to all our members and students. We are delighted that their feedback continues to show overwhelming endorsement and support and we will continue to work closely with employers to ensure that ACCA continues to meet their needs.”

“It is heartening that we have been able to grow the number of members as well as increasing our student base globally, both through increased recruitment and improved retention, which has been achieved by more and better support, along with enhanced member and student services. We have achieved all the targets we set for ourselves — speed, efficiency and quality of email and telephone service — all of which are benchmarked against globally accepted service delivery measures,” said Helen Brand.

This is the first brand shop opened by Cuckoo Electronics in Vietnam. The shop will carry Cuckoo brand products such as premium electric pressure rice cookers, electric grills, and water purifiers. Starting with the first shop in Phu My Hung, they are planning to spread Cuckoo brand shops to other large cities including Hanoi, so that more consumers can easily experience Cuckoo products for bigger brand awareness.

Ho Chi Minh, the first city in Vietnam in which a Cuckoo brand shop will be opened, is a commercial city that leads the economy of Vietnam and it is the largest port city. Thus, there is high possibility of attracting a number of consumers who have high purchasing power. A spokesperson for Cuckoo Electronics said that they are expecting that there will be a resulting sales increase of Cuckoo products. In particular, as the Cuckoo brand shop makes it possible for local consumers to be exposed to various household appliances of Cuckoo products, it is expected that more Vietnamese consumers will become familiar with the brand.

An Opening event for customers is going to be held until August 11th. A total of four products, including the steady-selling “Shining Black 2.0” (model name CRP-HXXB1020FB), other Induction Heating (IH) rice cookers and an electric grill, will be offered to consumers at discounted prices. At the same time, several kinds of gifts will be given to consumers who either visit the store or make purchases. Also, customers can have a look the latest premium models from Korea so customers who want the Cuckoo IH rice cooker’s excellent taste of rice can have a wide range of selections.

A spokesperson for Cuckoo Electronics’ overseas business team said, “Cuckoo Electronics has been launched in the position of a premium brand in Vietnam through a variety of products and high quality services,” and added, “As we represent the leading home appliances company in Korea, we will carry out various marketing strategies, including brand shops, to become the No. 1 home appliance brand in Vietnam as well.”

TMF Group, a leading provider of high value Outsourced Business Services to clients operating and investing globally, is pleased to announce it has agreed to purchase KCS Limited – the leading independent pan-Asian corporate services provider specialising in corporate accounting, corporate secretarial and payroll services – from UCL Asia Partners, L.P.

Originally founded in 1946, KCS Limited was acquired by UCL Asia Partners, L.P. in 2003 following its spin-off from KPMG. Since then, KCS Limited has grown from 43 employees working from a single Hong Kong office to 470 employees, spanning 14 locations in eight countries/regions, through a combination of strategic acquisitions and organic growth.

The acquisition will strengthen TMF Group’s existing platform in Asia Pacific, increasing the breadth and depth of TMF Group’s Outsourced Business Services offering in the region and enabling significant future growth.

TMF Group funded the acquisition from existing resources. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.

Tom Corkhill, Chief Executive of KCS Limited, commented:

“This deal marks an important stage in the development of our business. Combining our specialist skills, local knowledge and high quality client base with TMF Group’s truly global footprint is hugely exciting for both us and our clients who will now have the ideal partner to help them expand internationally into over 75 countries worldwide.”

Hugo van Vredenburch, Chief Executive of TMF Group, added:

“Asia Pacific is a key growth area for our business. This acquisition builds on our existing portfolio of services and provides an excellent operational fit, with KCS Limited and TMF Group providing critical and high value-add Outsourced Business Services from many of the same locations.“

“The transaction will bring significant benefits to both our businesses and extend TMF Group’s reach in the Chinese market, giving us unrivalled service capability in the region. I am delighted to welcome Tom and the team to TMF Group and look forward to working with them.”

UCL Asia Partners, L.P., added:

“We are very pleased that KCS will become a part of TMF Group. Under the guidance of Chairman Iain Bruce and Chief Executive Tom Corkhill and their senior management team, the business has established a position as one of the key players in the industry. TMF Group provides a perfect fit with KCS and we are particularly pleased that TMF Group is focussed on maintaining the KCS ethos and culture. UCL Asia was advised by Citigroup led by Will McLane and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher led by Graham Winter. We wish everyone at KCS and TMF Group continuing success.”

About TMF Group:

TMF Group is a leading global provider of high value business services to clients operating and investing globally. It focuses on providing highly specialised and business-critical financial, legal and human resource administrative services that enable clients to outsource their back office functions and operate their corporate structures, finance vehicles and investment funds in different geographical locations. TMF Group has operations in more than 75 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. The company is majority owned by Doughty Hanson, one of the largest independent private equity firms in Europe, which acquired it in 2008.

HANGZHOU, China, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Astronergy donated 150kW PV panels to a solar system installed on a parking lot of a children’s hospital, Hospitl de las Californias, located in Tijuana, Baja California.The PV system has been successfully…

HONG KONG, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — China Yongda Automobiles Services Holdings Limited (“Yongda Auto” or the “Company” and, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group“, stock code: 03669.HK), a leading passenger vehicle retailer and comprehensive service provider in China, is pleased to announce that Oriental Yongda, the only TV shopping automobile retailer in China created by Yongda and Oriental Shopping, officially launched the Car Exhibition on Oriental Shopping Website at its four-year anniversary. After four years’ operation, Oriental Yongda has cooperated with more than twenty well-known brands, including BMW, Audi, Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet, Ford, Shanghai Volkswagen, Roewe and hundreds of models on its TV shopping platform, and has successfully broadcasted 300 series of automobile sales program. High-quality programs and high-value schemes have been recognized by the vast of car consumers. The automobile sales program created by Oriental Yongda has not only won the trust of many car consumers, but also gained the widespread attention and recognition from automobile industry and the media. Oriental Yongda has won the “Financial Innovation Award”, “The Most Influential Automobile Sales Platform”, “Best Marketing Innovation Award”, “Gold Award of the Greatest Marketing” and other honors by the China Automobile Dealers Association, the Shanghai Automobile Sales Association, Liberation Daily,China’s Famous Automobile Market and other well-known media and organizations.

The Car Exhibition on Oriental Shopping Website contains live car models, website exclusive offerings, used car exclusive sales and car rentals. The launch of the platform not only provides Oriental Yongda with strong Oriental Shopping TV platform, but also enables Oriental Yongda to step into e-marketing with the assistance of Oriental Shopping Website. The powerful combination of platforms overcomes the timeliness and limitations of TV programs, achieving the 24-hour uninterrupted online sales from 45-minute live show, and diversified development of the automotive services from single new car sales service. This time, Oriental Yongda has launched four business segments, which are used car sales, car rental and leasing, after-sales products, group buy of new cars, providing the vast of customers with a more comprehensive automobile-related services. Under the attention and care of the management from Oriental Shopping and Yongda Auto, Oriental Yongda will pay more attention to consumers’ experiences, constantly develop new products, actively improve service quality, gradually form the service system of car purchase, car maintenance and car upgrading, and to create an integrated automobile sales operators in the multi-media age.

TOKYO, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — Ubitus Inc., the worldwide cloud gaming technology leader, is proud to announce the availability of blockbuster MMORPG title DRAGON QUEST X published by Square Enix Co., Ltd. on Nindendo’s most popular portable gaming console Nintendo 3DS™, enabled by its cloud game streaming platform.

By overcoming the challenges of server side GPU virtualization and scalability, portable console computing architecture and the wireless network quality management, Nintendo 3DS users can now enjoy the high quality MMORPG gaming experience on Nintendo 3DS, playing in the game world together with Wii®, Wii U™ and Windows PC, in addition to Android mobile devices that has also been enabled by Ubitus’ cloud gaming technology.

The service will be commercially launched on September 4th, 2014 in Japan, offering various tickets access plan through Nintendo’s platform. It demonstrates Ubitus’ strong technology leadership in cloud gaming space, and create a new console gaming experience to the next level.

“Ubitus is thrilled to bring the national flagship title from Square Enix to Nintendo’s bestselling Nintendo 3DS portable gaming console through our GameCloud® technology,” said Wesley Kuo, CEO of Ubitus, “we are committed to provide best technology to enable gaming platform providers to offer best seamless and enjoyable gaming experience over the cloud.

BEIJING, July 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — General Steel Holdings, Inc. (“General Steel” or the “Company”) (NYSE: GSI), a leading non-state-owned steel producer in China, today announced that the Company has entered into a definitive Subscription Agreement…

The Philippine News Digest gives the complete insight of every domestic, regional and international news and has been doing it for a long period of time. The website has its readers from all across the world,